forests due to the expansion of industry and agriculture, a loss of topsoil, vegetation, lakes (15% since the 1950’s) and wetlands (26% since the 1950’s), shortages of water due to drought and insufficient irrigation systems and inadequate disposal of household and industrial waste (20% of solid waste/year is being properly disposed of). In order to battle these environmental problems, the Chinese government has set targets for reducing pollution levels by committing US$6.6b in 2015 in new spending, including the complete shutdown of coal fired power stations. China also signed the UNFCCC’s Paris Agreement in 2015 and agreed to peak its CO2 emissions in 2030 and launch a national cap and trade emissions programme in 2017.
The Australian government on the other hand, has a range of environmental policies to minimise the impact of government operations on the environment. There are also agency measures and targets for carbon emissions, energy, waste and resource use, as well as set mandatory environmental standards for incorporating sustainability into government procurements. However, like China, they seem to be needing some rethinking or modification. Australia’s emissions from fossil fuels and industry continue to rise, and based on the most recent quarterly inventory, are now 6% above 2005 levels and increasing at around 1% since 2014. Under current policies and taking into account the previous increase in levels of carbon emissions, Australia is headed for an increase of 9% above 2005 levels by 2030, rather than the 15-17% decrease required to meet the Paris Agreement target. Furthermore, as seen in the stimulus, the Australian Government has set a target to ‘reduce emissions by 26-28% below its 2005 levels by 2030 through a credible policy suite that is already reducing emissions, encouraging technological innovation and expanding our clean energy sector.’ Thus, to conclude, Australia ratified the Paris Agreement on 6 November 2016. Its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), includes a target of reducing GHG emissions, including land use, land use change and forestry (LULUCF), by 26–28% below 2005 levels by 2030. However, current policies are projected to increase GHG emissions excluding LULUCF by about 9% above 2005 levels by 2030, relating highly to China’s extreme levels of CO2 emissions.
The Human Development Index (HDI) is a summary measure for assessing long-term progress in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, access to knowledge and a decent standard of living. China’s HDI value is 0.752 (2017), which puts the country in the high human development category at 86 out of 189 countries and territories, shared with Ecuador. Between 1990 and 2017, China’s HDI value increased from 0.502 to 0.752, an increase of 49.7%. Between 1990 and 2017, China’s life expectancy at birth increased by 7.1 years, mean years of schooling increased by 3.0 years and expected years of schooling increased by 5.0 years. China’s Gross National Income (GNI) per capita increased by about 898.7% between 1990 and 2017. In China, the central government has overall responsibility for national health legislation, policy, and administration. It is guided by the principle that every citizen is entitled to receive basi
